


Spark to a Flame

by cheshirekitsune



Category: Kingdom Hearts, Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Genre: Gen, Minor case of electrocution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 04:35:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2053806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheshirekitsune/pseuds/cheshirekitsune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Warning: Experiment 221 Activated. Primary Function: Creates Electrical Power Surges. ::Oneshot::</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spark to a Flame

Radiant Garden was a place of peace and tranquility. Everyone who lived within the walls was content with their life. There were no struggles, no real catastrophes, and any problems that popped up were easily solved, especially when Ansem the Wise was involved. And that was just about all the time, he was a ruler that was heavily invested in his kingdom and its people.

Which was all well and good, but for some unknown reason, the Lord of Radiant Garden was pretty damn stingy about letting people into the castle. Of course, if there was some sort of emergency, then access was easy, since the castle sort of doubled as a hospital on occasion, with three out of the seven scientists that lived up there being licensed in the practice of medicine. They usually made house calls though.

Any other time then that? Not much access was given. Sure, one could gain an audience with Ansem the Wise, and the gardens were almost always open. But that was really it. The rest of the castle remained a mystery. There wasn’t even a tour group!

It only meant that they were hiding something behind those walls and gardens, right? Something they didn’t want the rest of the town to see.

Lea had been convinced of that for years. Ever since the first day he had been thrown out by Dilan –which, at that time, was completely unfair; he had only been trying to find a bathroom—Lea had been determined to find out just what went on inside Lord Ansem’s castle.

Isa had called him an obsessed idiot many times over, but at least he was loyal, and he had assisted and participated in every break in plan Lea had come up with. Plans they had lost track of over the years, each more dangerous than the last with varying degrees of success and failure. The real miracle was the fact that the worst injury either of them had gotten was Isa breaking his wrist. (The boy had been very adamant about reminding Lea that it was _his_ idea to try a make shift grappling hook. Lea went broke trying to shut Isa up with ice cream.)

Now, with the two of them miraculously reaching the ripe age of eighteen years old, their daring plans to break into the castle had lessened to being non-existent. High school had been a holy terror that required all their attention, patience, and will power. Lea was still positive that Isa had sold his soul to some sort of devil when he hadn’t been looking. How else was he passing calculus!?

“You know, if you actually studied, you’d be getting a better grade.”

“You liar, I look at the homework, and it looks like something pulled right out of an alien space ship.” Lea bumped his friends shoulder before tilting his head in wonder. “Unless you got something you wanna tell me? Been abducted by any aliens recently? Doing their dirty work for them maybe?”

Isa rolled his eyes, not even flinching when he shoved Lea out of his personal space and into a light pole. “I get good grades and you think its aliens? All that tells me is you read too many comics instead of your actual assigned work.”

“Hey! That’s not true! I read the last one…” Lea grumbled, rubbing his shoulder. “It was about a bunch of kids having to compete in a rigged tournament or somethin’.”

“Lea, they beat each other to death for sport. While their entire nation watched and cheered for the bloodshed.” Isa deadpanned, staring at Lea in slight surprise, wondering how all he could take from that rather disturbing book was the fact that the kids were competing in a ‘rigged tournament.’ Lea simply shrugged.

“I said it was rigged! And it was seriously some messed up shi—“ The sentence died on his lips, his gaze being pulled towards the castle. He passed it every single day, saw it all the time when he looked out a window or walked around town. It was always in his vision, a sort of beautiful detail he tended to take for granted. Once in a while he would stare at it and still feel the pangs of curiosity, but they were much duller now, the teen slowly resigned to the idea that he would never see inside the place. So he didn’t look at it much anymore, it hardly ever changed or had anything notable on it.

Except for today, when a large arc of lightning shot between two of the towers. That was definitely notable, especially since there wasn’t a damn cloud in the sky!

Isa, realizing that Lea had stopped to stare into space, paused and turned to his friend. He stared at him for a moment, before following his gaze towards the castle. Lea could almost hear him groan.

“Don’t tell me you want too—“

“Shh! Just keep watching for a sec’.” Green eyes never left the tower where the lightning had arced. He was hoping, praying to some higher power that he hadn’t been seeing things. The silence dragged on for a minute, then two…

“Listen, if you want to try and break your neck getting into that place, be my guest. But I’d rather not—“ Now it was Isa’s turn to fall silent, because just as he was turning away to continue his walk home, he too saw the lightning jump the towers. And it didn’t just jump between one tower, it zig-zagged and looped around several of them before vanishing again.

Both boys turned to look at each other, eyes wide. There was no denying what they had just seen, but the question was, _what had they just seen?_ Everything in Radiant Garden was powered with water, not lightning. And there were no storms around that would cause any; even if there had been, lighting certainly wouldn’t behave like that.

Lea’s grin grew wide. “Don’t tell me you don’t want to know what that was?”

Isa sighed. “Fine. One more attempt. But let’s get the kit first, better safe than sorry.”

The ‘kit’ was something the two of them had developed over the years. It contained all the items they felt they needed when trying to attempt to break into the castle. All there was to the kit was several feet of rope, enough bandages to make a mummy out of one of them, six smoke bombs, batteries, Lea’s Frisbees, and for some stupid reason, a bag of marbles.

Really, they couldn’t remember why half that stuff was in there, but they both figured it would be useful somehow, so they kept it.

With their break in kit at the ready, along with a notebook and beat up old text book to make their lie seem more convincing, they set off towards the castle. The castle guards, Dilan and Aeleus were always wary when the two boys would show up around the castle. So a lie had been prepared ahead of time, a fake biology project about plants that would give them both a reason to be in the gardens in the first place.

As expected, when they crossed the threshold and were within eyesight of the guards, they were met with cautious glares. Lea, being the smartass he was, grinned widely and gave the two a half salute, half wave. Isa simply nodded towards them in greeting before pulling Lea away, shoving the notebook into the others chest, earning a painful grunt from the red head.

“Come on, let’s work on this ‘project’ before we’re thrown out.” He hissed, a glance being thrown over his shoulder towards Dilan and Aeleus. Dilan’s gaze was elsewhere, but Aeleus was still watching them. Nodding, Lea flipped open the notebook and pulled out a pen, scribbling some nonsense notes to add to the illusion, while Isa flipped to a random page in the book and pretended to point something out for Lea to write down. They lingered around for another minute or so before moving onto another part of the gardens, and out of sight of Dilan and Aeleus.

Once they were in the clear, the search began. They weren’t all that sure where to begin, considering they hadn’t seen where the lightning had ended during its last run. There weren’t any electrical outlets or power lines to follow. There were some light posts, but it wasn’t dark enough for them to be lit.

“Whatever it was has to be inside one of those towers…” Lea mumbled, a hand shielding his eyes from the light as he craned his head back to stare up at the castle.

“If that’s true, then we may never find it.” Isa replied, squinting up at the towers for a moment before looking around the garden, specifically at the walls that separated the gardens from the castle. “Even if we did manage to get in without being caught, we have no way of knowing where it’ll be. Plus, it looks like it was jumping around a lot.”

Lea made a disgruntled noise at that, clearly not happy with that particular detail. The most they could do was wander the gardens until they saw the lightning again, and they weren’t even sure if they would see it again! Still, Lea wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

Of course, two hours later, he was leaning more towards the area of giving up. The sun was starting to set, the outdoor lights flickering to life, and neither of them had seen the mysterious lightning bolt in the entire time they wandered the gardens. Aeleus had found them only once to ask them what they were up too, to which Isa calmly replied they were trying to get as much credit as they could since the project was difficult. Lea’s cussing and crumpling of paper in the background added to the effect.

“Any chance we were both hallucinating?” Isa asked idly, watching Lea pace in agitation.

“No way!” Lea cried, but even as he did so, he really had to wonder. It could have been a trick of the light, or the one guard, Braig trying something stupid. He couldn’t think of what else it could have been, and the longer they went without any sort of sign that it had been real, the more he was convinced that they had come up here for nothing.

With a frustrated cry, Lea kicked the light pole. The light bulb within exploded, showering him in broken glass. The teen was so surprised he stumbled backward into a fountain.

“Lea!”

“How the hell was that my fault!?” He gasped, shaking water out of his face. Looking up, he realized Isa wasn’t staring at him, but was instead staring at the top of the exploded light post. The cause of its explosion wasn’t Lea’s kick, it was the fault of the lightning bolt they had been chasing this entire time. Its origin was that of a small yellow creature with dark blue eyes and long antenna. Static buzzed between its antenna while it tilted its head at the two, obviously curious.

Both boys stared at the odd creature, who stared right back. Then the thing grew a huge grin, and jumped towards the next nearest light pole, making that one explode as well.

They could hear Dilan shouting in the distance.

“Shit!” Lea swore, pulling himself out of the fountain and watching with dismay as the little lightning monster flew to another light. “That little freak is going to get us in trouble! And for once we didn’t even do anything!”

“How exactly do you propose we catch that thing?” Isa was already giving chase, Lea slipping and stumbling right behind him. “We could probably tie it up if we caught it but—“

“Just shut up and give me the frisbees!”

“Are you serious!?”

He went ignored; Lea’s hands already in the bag and pulling out this pride and joy. They skidded to a stop, Lea’s arms raised slightly, ready to throw his weapon. His target was proving to be quite jumpy though, leaping from light to light, leaving an arching trail of electricity behind him. The really unsettling part was the gleeful giggles, like it was having the time of its life causing mass mayhem.

“Come ooon, hold still you little—“ Teeth bared, he flung the frisbees with all his might the second he saw the creature stopping to land on an already broken lamp post. One of them missed completely, but the other one nailed the furball right in the side of the head. With a startled yelp, it fell to the ground, its little hands coming up to rub its snout. Lea was already rushing forward to grab it before it could escape again, completely forgetting that he was still soaking wet.

“Lea wait--!”

But it was too late, Lea’s arms had already wrapped around that yellow body, hugging it close to make sure it wouldn’t wriggle free. But instead of wriggling and biting, Lea received a dose of electricity instead, the creature being so startled by the sudden grab that it involuntarily discharged.

Lea’s pain filled cry rang out across the garden, dropping the animal as he crumpled to the ground in a quivering heap. Isa rushed forward, kneeling next to his friend but not daring to touch him, both out of fear of receiving a shock, and not wanting to put him in any more pain.

The yellow creature was still there, staring in horror at what it had just done, its ears and antenna drooping significantly as it edged closer. Isa glared at it, before swinging his bag at it. It jumped away, looking at Isa now in fear.

“What’d you go and do that for! You could have killed him!” Isa watched those blue eyes go wide, shifting between Lea’s unconscious form and Isa himself. Almost as if it realized just how serious the situation was. Its little hands gripped the top of its head, pulling slightly on its own antenna before it opened its mouth and let out a groan.

Dilan and Aeleus’ voices were much closer now, no doubt having heard Lea’s scream. Yellow ears perked up, the creatures head turning in the direction of the voices. “Crabba snabba!”

Isa did a double take. Did that thing just talk!?

“Did you just—“

“Naga! Aka-choota!” Whatever the hell this thing was saying, it was obviously some sort of hurried goodbye or explanation, because it was slowly backing away. “Meega soka! Soka!”

After saying that, it darted up the lamp post and disappeared, Isa only able to assume that it was able to hide within the circuitry. He really didn’t have much time to dwell on it, because the guards had arrived, and he had to very quickly explain that Lea needed medical attention and he needed it as soon as possible.

* * *

“Now, how exactly did he get electrocuted?”

“He was leaning against the light post when they exploded, so it probably came from that. I didn’t see it happen; I just heard the glass break and him screaming his head off.”

“…Why was he wet?”

“Pushed him into the fountain earlier. He wouldn’t shut up.”

The voices sounded muffled, like he was hearing them from down a hallway, and he was only able to recognize one of them. Sounded like Isa was lying through his teeth again, which was a skill he greatly appreciated. Of course, the question was why did Isa have to lie for him again? And why did everything hurt?

Lea opened his eyes, blinking slowly while everything came into focus. The room was unfamiliar, though it vaguely resembled a hospital. There were empty beds around him, curtains hanging from the ceiling that he figured were supposed to act like pseudo walls, gave the illusion of privacy, but not any actual privacy. He let out a slow sigh, the realization of just where he was making him agitated. This was the castle, it had to be, since there was no other hospital within Radiant Garden. To think, all it took to get into this place was getting several volts of electricity shot through him.

Turning his head, he saw the door was ajar, and saw a familiar blue mess of hair just on the other side, but he couldn’t see who Isa was talking too.

He moved to try and get up, but regretted the decision the moment he tried it. Because not only did his muscles protest, but he also accidently tugged on the IV that had been put into his arm, which hurt just about as much as everything else. The teen grimaced at the sight of it, before he let himself fall back against the pillows. Nothing he could really do right now.

Five minutes passed before the door opened, and he found Isa walking towards him. Seeing his friends eyes widen with surprise made the red head smirk, though it was a tired version of his usual boastful grin.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He teased as Isa pulled an empty chair over to his bedside. The response he got was a slight whack to the head.

“And you nearly became a ghost, moron.” Isa retorted, face set in a frown, though there was relief hidden behind that stern look. If Lea was still able to tease, then maybe he wasn’t as hurt as Isa had feared. “What the hell made you think that grabbing that thing would end well?! Especially when you were soaking wet!”

“Eeeh, it was the heat of the moment. I wasn’t thinking.” Lea mumbled, choosing to ignore Isa’s eye roll. “So what’s the word from the doc? Am I gonna die in my sleep? Did I get super powers?”

“You wish. They said that aside from muscle pain for a few days, you should be fine. But they’re keeping you overnight just to be sure.” Well, Lea was certainly grateful for that. He didn’t exactly feel comfortable going home yet, not with how much pain he still felt whenever he moved. Though the bright side was he could probably get a note to skip out of P.E. for a couple days. If these guys said it, no one would argue it.

“What about you? Are you staying here or heading home?” Lea asked, turning his gaze back to Isa. It was a stupid question, but he also wasn’t sure if the castle’s hospital wing had visiting hours. He almost expected to find Aeleus at the door waiting to escort Isa out.

Thankfully, Isa nodded. “Usually they don’t let guests stay overnight, but your little ‘accident’ happened just as they were closing the gardens. And it was serious enough where they made an exception. They said it would be better if you had one friendly face to wake up too.”

“Admit it, you begged them to stay because you thought I was going to die and wanted to be by my side at my dying hour.”

“Keep dreaming. Planning your funeral would be a huge pain in the ass, and you’d probably come back to haunt me anyway.”

Lea gave a small laugh, but he still winced. Electrocution was not fun, and it was something he hoped he would never have to experience again as long as he lived. Isa brief smile faded at Lea’s pain, and he leaned forward slightly.

“Seriously, are you feeling alright?”

“I’ve been better.” Lea mumbled, bringing his non IV hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Everything just aches, you know? And I’m pretty sure if I tried to get up, I’d just fall to the floor, if I don’t rip this thing out first.”

He pointed to the IV, before his hand fell onto his chest. He could feel his heart beating, and it was a little creepy to think how close it had come to stopping. Though, even phrasing it like that didn’t feel right. That little guy wouldn’t have killed him, if it had wanted too, it would have done so the moment he and Isa had spotted it on the light. If Lea had to take a guess, he figured he probably just scared it enough to react.

“Where do you think that creature went?”

Isa looked up, before tilting his head back slightly in thought. “I’m not sure. It seemed…scared. It bailed on me before Dilan and Aeleus showed up, like it didn’t want to be spotted. Oh, and you’ll love this, it can talk.”

“Seriously? What’d it say!?”

“No idea.” Isa said with a shrug. “It was speaking some language I couldn’t understand.”

Lea slumped back into the pillows again. “Well that figures.”

Silence fell between them again, wondering what became of the little electrical animal they had met. Both of them figured they wouldn’t be seeing it again anytime soon, not if what Isa said was true, and it was scared of those who lived within the castle. Maybe it was just afraid of getting captured?

As the night wore on, Lea dozed on and off while Isa read a book borrowed from someone within the castle. It was in the early hours of the morning, when both of them were half asleep that they heard the door creak open. Isa, who had taken over one of the empty beds next to Lea, sat up to see who was coming in, but no one was there. He could definitely hear soft footsteps, but there was nobody else in the room! He didn’t remember reading that this place was haunted!

Lea, who had still been somewhat asleep, was brought back to the realm of the waking by something jumping onto his bed. He heard Isa’s sharp intake of breath next to him, and quickly lifted his head to see what had jumped onto his bed.

It was their little lightning friend. And in each of his hands, he held one of Lea’s frisbees.

A glance was shot towards Isa, who looked just as lost as he felt. Managing to push himself into a sitting position, Lea stared at the yellow creature at the end of his bed, noting the droopy ears and overall upset expression. He almost looked like a kicked puppy.

“Uh…”

Slowly, their late night visitor stepped forward, holding out Lea’s frisbees towards him. Isa’s gaze was filled with surprise, and Lea only hesitated a second before holding out his hands to accept the plastic discs back. He was pretty sure plastic couldn’t conduct electricity, but even if it did, there weren’t any sparks flying from those antenna, so it seemed like the currents were controlled.

“Hey, thanks little guy.” Lea whispered, truly grateful to have his stuff returned to him. “You didn’t have to go to all that trouble…”

Little yellow hands retreated, fidgeting with themselves while the dark blue gaze moved from Lea to Isa. Isa hadn’t been kidding when he said the little guy looked scared and upset. Setting the frisbees aside, Lea scooted forward, as much as his IV would let him. The yellow head perked up.

“Listen, I’m sorry I whacked you and tried to grab you. Probably scared the hell outta ya, didn’t it?” He not a fidgety nod out of that, and Lea gave a small grin. “Its alright, you just panicked. You never meant to hurt me, right?”

The nodding was much more enthusiastic now. “Ih! Meega soka. Meega ziz-ziz yuuga. Naga bootifa. Soka…”

Isa also hadn’t been lying about this thing being able to talk. Sure, it was broken words and there seemed to be a distinct buzz in its voice, but it was still communication. The language he was speaking went right over their heads, but from what they could gather from the tone, it sounded like an apology? Lea would take what he could get honestly, and in a very roundabout way, he owed it to this little guy. Thanks to the shock scare, he finally got inside Radiant Garden castle!

“Hey, you got a name? Mine’s Lea, got it memorized?”

“L—Leeee—Ah. Leeah!”

“Close enough.” Lea said with a slight laugh, before nodding his head over towards Isa. “And that over there is Isa. Can you say that? I-S-A.”

“Izzzzza. Iza Iza!” Isa smirked, nodding his head. It really was as close as it could get, since it seemed to have a buzz with the ‘s’ sound. The fact that it could speak at all was pretty amazing, so neither of them were going to be picky about how it pronounced their names.

“So what about you? Got something we can call ya?”

“Ih! Sparky!” Sparky said with a wide grin, showing off those sharp teeth of his. Lea counted his blessings that he had only been shocked and not bitten.

They talked with Sparky throughout the remainder of the night, and from what they could gather from his broken English, he was something of a secret. He was able to travel through electrical sockets, and loved to hang around the lab equipment and computers causing them to short circuit and fizz out when someone was trying to use them. But since no one else knew about him, he didn’t really have anyone to talk too or play with. And he certainly didn’t like hurting people with his shocks, which was why he had panicked so bad when he realized what he had done to Lea.

When they had all fallen asleep, none of them knew. All they knew was the sun was shining through the window, and the door was being pushed open, with someone talking pretty loudly on the other side.

“Yes, I’m aware his Lordship wishes to speak with me, but I would like to check on the boy first. Electrocution is no small matter and I want to be sure he is alright before we send him home.”

Lea’s eyes snapped open, and fell to Sparky, who was frozen in his spot on top of Lea’s chest. He hadn’t intended to fall asleep, and now there was no time for him to escape. Isa shot a glance towards the door before unzipping the break in kit.

“In here.” He hissed, shooting another nervous glance to the door. “Quick.”

Sparky obeyed, nestling himself within the bag and making sure his antenna were all the way in before Isa zipped the bag enough to hide what was inside. He then pretended nothing even happened, talking softly to Lea who still looked pretty groggy. The door opened, revealing Even and Ienzo. Even was staring at a clipboard in his hands, and when he saw Lea was awake, he seemed to brighten. Ienzo meanwhile, kept glancing around the room, as if searching for something he expected to be in there.

“Ah, you’re awake. Good.” The clipboard was set aside while the scientist walked over to check Lea’s IV feed. The bag was just about empty, and Lea had almost forgotten he even had it in. “How are you feeling this morning? Any dizziness or numbness?”

“No. Everything still aches like all hell.” Lea replied. “Which I’m guessing is a good thing?”

“Well, it means no nerve endings were damaged. The pain should go away within the week, though if it persists you should come back to see us.” Even explained calmly while removing the IV feed. Lea hissed slightly and Ienzo looked positively pale when the needle was pulled from Lea’s arm. Even went on to give Lea a very basic physical exam, wanting to be absolutely sure there were no lasting effects from the lightning. When he deemed Lea to be as healthy as could be, he began gathering up his papers.

“Ienzo will escort you both out when you are ready, and again, should anything not feel right or you have any other questions, you are welcome to come back here.”

“Got it.” Lea mumbled, rubbing his bandaged arm where the IV had been pulled. He looked up at Even as he was leaving, giving the man a sort of awkward smile. “Thanks for everything…”

Isa thanked Even as well, and he gave them both a nod before leaving. Ienzo watched him go quietly, but the moment the door was closed, he turned back to the two teens.

“Where is he?”

Lea and Isa glanced between each other, unsure of what to do. Ienzo was only a year or two younger than they were, but neither of them had really spent much time with the kid. They were surprised to hear him speak at all; the last they heard was he didn’t talk to anyone, except possibly Ansem the Wise.

“Uh…who?”

“You think I believe that an exploded light pole electrocuted you?” Ienzo said flatly, arms crossing over his chest. “I know he’s in here, he’s not anywhere else in the castle. He usually hides from strangers though…”

Another silent glance was exchanged, before Isa lifted the bag onto the bed, unzipping the top so Sparky could poke his head out. He did, the batteries that were part of the break in kit poking out of his mouth. Lea wasn’t even surprised, the lightning creator liked to eat batteries, made perfect sense.

“Zozo!” Sparky cried through a mouthful of battery, jumping out of the bag and leaping onto Ienzo’s shoulder. “Ohufi! Ashi salaam?”

“Wait, you knew about him!?” Lea cried, mouth agape as Ienzo scratched behind Sparky’s ears and proceeded to answer him saying he was fine. Sparky definitely seemed to know Ienzo, as he was nuzzling the boy’s cheek and making little buzzing chirps, which Lea could only guess was his form of purring.

“I figured someone in this castle had to know he was running around…” Isa mumbled, letting the bag fall back to the floor. He didn’t even care about the batteries; they probably didn’t work anymore anyway. “Despite the fact that he would always run and hide whenever someone got too close.”

“Only Lord Ansem and I know about him.” Ienzo stated calmly, gently setting Sparky down on the bed. “Lord Ansem was the one that found him, he said Sparky just popped up after a water spill in one of the basements. Though, we’re not all that sure where he came from or what he even is, and until we do know, we’re determined to keep him a secret.”

“Wait, how the heck did you find out about him then?”

Ienzo shot sparky a leer, to which Sparky gave a cheeky grin. “Same way you two did, he pulled a prank on me. Used to make the lights in my room flicker to try and scare me.”

Lea had to snicker at that, loving the fact that his new friend was such a trickster. Man, where the hell was Sparky last year when he wanted to scare everyone on Halloween. A walking electrical surge would have been perfect for scaring them all!

“So he only shows up to those he’s interested in…”Isa mused, watching Sparky with interest. He blinked back up at Isa, his head tilting slightly to the left. Ienzo nodded in response to Isa’s words.

“Sparky’s smart, I don’t think he’d show himself to someone who would harm him.”

“Naga-takabah! Leeah isa achi-baba! Iza isa achi-baba!” Sparky was very adamant about his claim, puffing out his chest and holding his little arms wide. They really had to work on teaching Sparky some proper English, Lea couldn’t even begin to figure out what the hell he had just been called. Hopefully it was something good.

“Friends?” Ienzo translated, head tilted in Sparky’s direction. Ah, so that’s what it meant.

“Ih!”

“You sound surprised~ As if we wouldn’t make friends with this awesome little guy.” Lea said with a grin, holding his unbandaged arm out towards Sparky. He took the hint and leapt onto Lea’s outstretched arm, climbing up to rest on his shoulder.

“It is nice to have a friend who’s actually intelligent.” Isa said, giving Sparky a few pats on the head.

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean!”

Ienzo couldn’t help but smile at the sight, glad that Sparky had taken such a liking to the two. In truth, he had felt a little bad that Sparky had gotten so lonely in the first place. But with all the experiments and plans pushing forward, he was spending more time in the lab and less time anywhere else. Sparky was an amazing creature, and the last thing he wanted was for anyone to find him and try to abuse his power, or worse, try to experiment on him.

But, as he said, Sparky was smart, and he had a very good taste in friends. He wasn’t all that worried about his choice in playmates. What was the worst that could happen?

* * *

“Sheesh, this place really has gone to hell…”

It was really an understatement; Ansem’s old office was a literal disaster area. The worst of it had been cleaned up, glass had been swept up, holes patched up, and most of the torn papers collected and stored away safely, but the room still looked like a tornado had twisted through it. And that stupid portrait was still there! Every time he passed by it, he had the burning desire to ram his chakrams right into that stupid smug face.

Lea heaved a sigh as he strode over to the desk and began rummaging through the drawers. Downstairs, Ienzo was updating as much of the corrupted data as he could. It was tedious work, and Lea was really only there to keep him company. Or at least provide the illusion that someone was listening to him, he had really become a chatter box since being recompleted!

Well, at least someone had a vague idea of what the hell was going on. He was still getting used to the fact that he could actually feel his heart beating in his chest again. It was unsettling, like having a weight suddenly dropped into the middle of his ribcage.

“Seriously? Ansem didn’t keep a damn pad and pen in this hunk of junk?” Lea hissed, slamming the drawer shut and opening the one underneath it. All that was in there was an old tin cylinder that rattled when Lea shook it. Maybe there was a pen in there? Lea opened it and turned it upside down. The only thing that fell out was a lone green marble. He blinked. That was a rather strange thing to keep in a desk.

Examining the marble, Lea let his mind wander back to what Ienzo had been saying earlier before needed Lea to go off on this little errand. It was something about their new furry little roommate, a strange blue creature that could climb on the walls and spoke broken English and alien. The little guy called himself Stitch, and he was waiting in Radiant Garden for some sign that his own home world had returned from the darkness. Lea was rather fond of him, as he was much smarter then he seemed, and all he wanted was to know if his family was safe, something Lea could sort of sympathize with. Plus, the little guy could make some of the best Chinese food.

But Ienzo had said he figured out what Stitch was thanks to some data Sora had retrieved and some information from Stitch himself. Stitch was a genetic experiment, a sort of alien Frankenstein that was supposed to wreak all havoc and hell upon the earth, but the experiment had been a failure of sorts. Lea didn’t doubt Stitch’s abilities to be a holy terror, and he was secretly thankful that he had failed in that aspect.

That wasn’t all either. Ienzo had said Stitch was the 626th experiment, and there were a whole lot more of them. 625 of them to be exact, all of them just as dangerous as Stitch was. The alien was adamant about finding them all, since they were his only family. Had to find his cousins before someone else did, apparently, which wasn’t easy since some of them hadn’t even been activated and were still in pod form.

Turning the green marble over with this thumb and forefinger, he saw there was an inscription on it, though he was reading it upside down. Flipping it over, he walked over towards the nearest light and squinted, trying to read the text that was just a slight shade different.

It was a number. 221.

Lea froze.

No. There was no way it was possible. That had been years ago and he had assumed that, like everyone else on the world, he had been lost to darkness when everything fell. But, when he thought about it, there were a few striking similarities between the two. And the others had been scattered across the worlds, but it was never mentioned how long ago that had happened…

He was crazy. Deluding himself with the wave of emotions he was still getting used too. It was impossible that he would still be alive after all this time!

He stared at the numbered pod, and made his decision. There really was only one way he would find out, and all it would take was a glass of water.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this…” Staring into the glass he had set on Ansems desk, Lea shook himself. He really didn’t have time to dawdle; it was either test it and get it over with or go back downstairs to help Ienzo. Actually, maybe this would be a good thing if he was right. Ienzo would be happy to see him too.

If only Isa could be there…

The pod was held over the glass, and bracing himself, Lea let it fall into the water.

It hit the bottom of the glass, and the moment it did, a yellow glowing orb emerged from where the pod had been, rising to the surface and growing larger with each passing second. Lea took a step back from the desk as the orb, now floating out of the glass, grew even bigger, filling the room with a bright white light.

The orb burst, and lightning shot from it causing the lights to flicker and several of the older machines in the room to short circuit and smoke. From the lab downstairs, Lea could hear Ienzo’s startled and confused cry.

But Lea didn’t care. He didn’t care that he might have set Ienzo back about an hour. He didn’t even care that he almost caused a power outage that they really couldn’t afford to have. Because sitting on the desk, blinking slowly and emitting static from his long yellow antenna, was his old friend. The 221st Genetic Experiment, the little lightning beast he used to play with every single day before he had become a Nobody.

“Sparky!”

The experiment looked up, and seeing Lea with his arms wide open, gave a gleeful cry and jumped forward into his chest, making sure to give Lea the biggest most disgusting greeting lick he could muster.  He didn’t know why Lea looked so much older or was wearing a strange jacket. And he wasn’t sure why Isa wasn’t there either. But he was so happy to be out of his pod and back with his friend that he didn’t pause to focus on it, instead choosing to chatter away and tell Lea how much he missed him.

“I know, I missed you too. You’ve been cooped up in there waaaay too long.” Lea said, thankful for the impromptu lessons in Tantalog he had gotten. Stitch’s English was better than Sparky’s, but it still paid to know their native language. At least now he knew what Sparky was telling him.

Letting the experiment climb into the hood of his jacket, he glanced back and gave Sparky a grin. “Come on, let’s go see Zozo. I’m sure he’s wondering just what the hell I’ve been doing this entire time and why half the castle’s power just flickered.”

“Ih! El kiyotay.”

Lea chuckled as he opened the door and descended the steps, Sparky’s head peaking over his shoulder eager to see Ienzo and Stitch. It was a good feeling, the joy fluttering in his chest making him grin uncontrollably. It was really the first good thing that had happened in weeks.

He’d take whatever little miracle he could get.

Especially the one that had enough power to light up the whole castle.

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm a huge fan of the idea that the experiment pods got scattered across the worlds and a few of them get activated and either cause mass mayhem or form amazing friendships. I also really like the thought of Ansem the Wise being a sneaky shit and having some of the pods hidden in his desk. And thus this was born.
> 
> To clear up the timeline, Sparky is set after Leroy and Stitch.  
> Radiant Garden is set post BBS but pre everything going to shit.
> 
> Tantalog Translations in order of appearance:  
> -Uh oh!  
> -No! Gotta go!  
> -I'm sorry! Sorry!  
> -Yeah. I'm sorry. I zapped you. Not cool. Sorry...  
> -Yeah! Sparky!  
> -Hi! How are you?  
> -No way! Lea is friend! Isa is friend!  
> -Yeah!  
> -Yeah. Good Idea.
> 
> Kingdom Hearts (c) Square Enix  
> Sparky (c) Disney


End file.
